Category Archives for History

Surnames

Family names among my direct-line ancestors include: Sheehan, Carroll, Daniels, Miller, and Helwick. Countries of origin probably include: USA, Ireland, Prussia, Germany, Poland, and Norway. These names take us back to only about 1869.

With the help of  the genealogical research of my sister, Gerry Hook, I hope to add direct-line family names farther into the past.

I want very much to read and respond to your comments.

Familly: Persons and Times

I begin here to write a few words about the ancestors of Richard Carroll Sheehan. I’m the Richard I write of. I was born on September 17th of 1937 in Wayne County Michigan. Detroit is there.

My father was given the name of Carroll Joseph and my mother was given the name of Dorothy Cecilia. My mother’s maiden name was Johnson.

My father was born on May 26th of 1908 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.He married my mother on November 28th of 1936. My father, Carroll, was the first son of Joseph Carroll Sheehan and Josephine  Sophia Helwick.

There were other happenings in 1937:

~ Joshua Tree Townsite set up offices along 29 Palms Road close to the western entrance of Joshua Tree National Monument.

~ Dr. Bob and Bill of AA fame attended a meeting in Akron and Calculated that forty cases of sobriety resulted from their meetings, and come to believe that success is possible

~ The United Automobile Workers won their first contract with General Motors in February and a contract with Chrysler in March.

~ In June, the longest solar eclipse in 1200 years occurred.

Other happenings in 1908:

~ The General Motors Co. was organized in Flint, Michigan by William Durant

~ The Tungush Meteorite smashed into Siberia

~ Lyndon B. Johnson was born and later became president of the U.S.

~ Arnold Bennett’s novel Old Wives’ Tail was published

American Empire

During the presidency of James K. Polk with the advent of the Mexican-American War of 1846, the development of American imperialism became evident to many around the world. It had become evident to many of our Canadian neighbors by 1812.

Earlier, Thomas Jefferson showed strong signs of being willing to expand the nation at the expense of other people.

Influential Americans showed that they were well able to use our foreign policy, blood, and money to effectively dominate other people. At first they tended to use our military to take from other countries by dominating their land and trade.  Later they took the wealth of others by more subtle economic means and resorted to military force only when it seemed more expedient..

I am not sure why some Americans are still ignorant of our oppression and domination of countries and people around the world. Too many Americans are not only unaware of our cultural exportation of others, but also of our economic and military exploitation of them. Why are there Americans who do not recognize their own imperial conduct? Why are there so many Americans who generously support our imperial conduct and seem to have little interest in benefiting from it?

There are Americans who do not even raise an eyebrow when we force our surrogates into position to rule and exploit people around the globe.

How cruel they seem in their ignorance1